From the journal of Niki Schemanski
Oh how the spirit is opening my eyes to the rejection and misunderstanding the Lord Jesus suffered while on Earth. It didn’t only come on the night of the cross; it came almost continually throughout his 3 years of His ministry. It came from his disciples, from the Pharisees, from his brothers, from Peter, and from the crowds.
Did this betrayal and rejection come because He was wrong in His approach to ministry? No. Was He too harsh? too mean? No. Was it because He focused too much on one subject and not enough on another? No. But these are the questions many modern-day ministers and pastors ask themselves when people leave their church or reject them personally. In our insecurity and desire to be successful leaders, sometimes we alter our approach and adjust our speaking so as not to offend or turn people away. But is that what Jesus did? Absolutely not. He never watered down his message or omitted certain topics because they were too controversial. He lived and moved and breathed with total and complete love, but His love demonstrated itself by speaking the absolute truth regardless of the consequences, even unto death.
The result of Him speaking the truth in love was a true weeding out of those who desired to know and follow Him versus those simply intrigued by His miracles and the drama surrounding His ministry. Jesus was not the least bit concerned about numbers or growth in His ministry. As a matter of fact, His ministry grew massively in connection to His demonstration of miracles and healing, but as He began to teach the masses what it truly meant to follow Him the masses soon lost interest and went back to the darkness in which they lived because they loved the darkness more than the light. Tragic but true. And why would it be any different in our day? It’s not. The masses are still attracted to miracles, healing, entertainment, and drama. But we do a great disservice when we forsake preaching the hard truths of the gospel in order to keep those masses under our ministry name. If we truly love these people as Christ did then we will teach them the whole word of God (not only the feel-good stuff) and willingly suffer the consequences of their anger, resentment, betrayal, and rejection of us, knowing that it is not us they are rejecting but the Father who has called us to preach such difficult things. We must stop building empires and start building disciples. Those whom the Spirit draws to the Father will not reject the difficult truths in the teachings of Jesus, but will be inspired to know Him in the fullness of who He truly is and what that means as His follower. Those who love their darkness more than the light will be offended by His truth because it will expose their pride and selfishness and demand that they cry out for mercy (which would require humility). In love we must let these people “choose this day who they will serve” (Joshua 24:15). We must love them no less when they choose the darkness over the light, but loving them means we continue teaching the truth in it’s fullness, not altering it so they feel accepted into the light when in fact they’re not.
When a person is enlisted to the Marines they must go to boot camp first. Boot camp is where they learn and train to become what this great service will require of them. Wimps don’t make it through boot camp. Lazy people don’t make it through boot camp. Selfish people don’t make it through boot camp. I can’t imagine a new recruit walking up to the Drill Sergeant saying “I know the manual says I’m supposed to do 100 push ups today, but that offends me and besides push-ups have always been really hard for me. So could you please excuse me from doing that part?” That person would be sent home with a brutal reprimanding for even considering such a ridiculous request! Anyone who wants to be a Marine must become a Marine. A person is not simply a Marine because they say they are or because they enlisted. The same goes for being a Christian. Yes, it is only by God’s immeasurable grace displayed on the cross of Jesus Christ that we are even given the opportunity to stand before Him and not be crushed by His wrath. I am enlisted to the army of God, but now I am in boot camp. He has given me a manual for right living, the Bible, and I would sound just as ridiculous as the Marine recruit to request that His instructions be altered or dismissed for my sake. Matthew 7:14 “For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” So, Lord empower me to spur and cheer people on in this good fight of faith by speaking the truth in love and laying down my life for others as Jesus did, not concerning myself with popularity, comfort, or acceptance but concerning myself deeply with people’s need to know You and love you with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength.